This is a personal blog where I will be writing about family, photography, cooking, gardening, living in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and growing older. And maybe anything else that happens to interest me. You've been warned...but feel free to read along.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Is Blogging Blase?

Blase......uninterested because of frequent exposure or indulgence. That is how the Free On-line dictionary defines blase. I'm beginning to wonder if that is what is happening to blogging from the standpoint of the blogger and the reader. My blog list has become huge and it seems like every week there is another one or two to add to it. It is more than I can keep up with....too much of a good thing.

I have to admit that I no longer rush to check out blogs every morning and obviously since I haven't written on this blog for over a week, I'm not as enthusiastic about blogging as I once was. It isn't just me. I've been going through my bookmarked blogs and checking to see what is happening. I have deleted a lot of blogs where people just stopped writing them. Lots of them without any notice. They just stopped. Some said that they were taking a break but that break had stretched out to over a year. I've deleted blogs whose focus has changed to something that no longer interests me.

One category of blog that has surprised me are the food blogs, both the cooking and restaurant review blogs. Some started off with such life and vitality but deteriorated into something rather bland. Houston Foodie says that it happened with the Houston food blogs because some people got paying gigs from their blogs and some started to feel obligated to write and the writing started becoming more generic.

Another category of blogs that I read are photography related blogs. Some bloggers who use to write and post photographs often are now more or less rewriting what is happening in photography rather than their own personal story about making art. The blog has become about public relations and advertising their work.

Some of my favorite Mexican bloggers have written on their blogs that they think that maybe they are bored with blogging or they are writing about the same things over and over. I hope that those who have voiced those sentiments don't stop blogging because they are some of my favorite bloggers. But I understand where they are coming from. Some of us have been blogging for more than five years. We have written about each festival or getting a FM-3 or whatever more than once, it is hard to approach it again with the excitement and freshness of the first time or two that we wrote about it.

Most of us are good writers but there are a few blogs that I read that are written by very talented writers whose blog entry just hangs around in my head all day. Sometimes after I read one of their blogs, I wonder if I should bother posting anything ever again. I remind myself that it is like photography. Many photographer's have work that leaves me sitting in awe. I have my work and they have their work. If I don't do my work, no matter how I measure it against anyone else's work, then I lose a lot of joy in my life.

Here is a quote from the Houston Foodie. It is about food blogging but when I read it, I dropped out the word "food" and applied it to my blogging.

"So here's my advice for burned-out food bloggers and those who may be thinking about starting a food blog. Sit down in front of your computer with a glass of wine or a cup of coffee, write about what you love, what you're passionate about, and assume no one's going to read it. It can be three paragraphs or thirty. And when you're done, if you like what you wrote and you think others will too, post it to your blog. Don't worry about pageviews or the number of comments. Four or five dedicated readers who appreciate the thought and effort you put into your blog are worth a thousand readers just passing through."

I do like being able to post my photographs and I do like to write, so I'm going to keep writing the blog about whatever, whenever I feel like it. I'm going to sit down with my cup of coffee or glass of wine and write. I'm not going to worry about whether it is a long post or a short post or even if it is only a photograph. Or if my blog is blase or not. Like Houston Foodie, I'll do it for the joy of writing it and I'll appreciate any readers who come along.

15 comments:

It takes a fair bit of energy to continually produce good materiel on your blog. The writing is one thing but the creativity is even more difficult. Early on I stressed myself with always producing a new article every week and even harder having a good set of images.

It took me a while to start not worrying about the strict time-line and when an article is ready then publish even if it takes more than 2 weeks.

this is an ah-ha moment for me! I've been mulling it over and I decided to let my cooking blog go. I started it in a moment of enthusiasm for blogging, but find that having one blog is enough.As for photography,like everything else, there will always be someone better at it than you and someone worse. Unless you are the absolutely best or the bottom of the barrel those places on the ladder will change. I love a well done photography blog. I get bored with bad ones.My motto is that I will continue to blog as long as it's fun! By the way, I didn't comment before, but Carly is perfect! Congratulations to all of you!regards,Theresa

Niels, you are so right. Producing a blog is work. I'm retired so it has to be rewarding in the doing of it. And I've definitely quit worrying about blogging on a schedule.

Theresa, from the beginning I decided I would only do one blog and it kind of runs in spurts of cooking or photography or travel. Whatever is on the front burner in my life at that moment. Carly is turning out to be a pretty good dog but she is not without her faults. I'll write about her again soon.

Mimi, it is always nice to hear from you. I'm looking forward to seeing you this Fall.

I have been thinking about this, too. Sometimes I have lots to say and sometimes have long dry spells. I am not going to worry about that anymore. And I agree, when it stops being fun, I will know it.

I love that your blog is multi-topic. I pretty much skip the FM3 kind of posts for the most part now, my favorites are the glimpses into what people are passionate about... Jonna's pond and pets, your cooking and photography and family, Linda's jewelry making and house renovations, etc. Interesting people make for interesting reading.

Sounds like you are going to the Blogger get together this fall? We haven't decided yet...

Good post. My solution to stay fresh was to sit down one day and go through all my pictures of this year. I simply saved them in a draft bin with a temporary heading and ended up with 89 draft posts. Whenever I get an additional idea I simply put them in the draft bin with a title. Ideas for tomorrow.

There are days when I am in the mood, I sit down, pick a few drafts from the bin, write them and move them from the draft to a scheduled bin for some time in the future. That way I can go weeks without having to write anything and when I return I have bin of ideas that are fresh to me and often what I thought the post would be about turns out to be very different.

Many have told me that maybe the time is running out on my concept and I felt that when I was having to find stuff for posts. This new way is kind of fun. Guess when the draft bin is empty my blog is done.

You are absolutely correct about blogging on events that seem to recur in Mexico. No matter how repetitive it may seem to us, there is always something new to share -- and there are new readers who would miss out if we did not talk about what is going on in our lives. You do a great job. Being away from Mexico these past four months has made me really appreciate how being on the ground makes a difference in my writing. I want to get back.

Nancy, you hit it on the head. The FM3 posts are "blase" at this point but it becomes about people and their lives that make a blog come alive for me. This Fall we want to go to Merida and it would be so much fun to meet up with some more bloggers.

Calypso, I'm not quiting blogging but I have changed the emphasis.

Richland, I keep a list of things I think about but sometimes by the time I get around to writing about the subject, I no longer want to write about it. So I guess I'll just continue kind of spur of the moment.

Steve, there are still things that amaze me about Mexico although we have had a house here for over 8 years. Certainly my life is filled with more adventure here than in the States.

Billie after I wrote that I realized that most blogs are about immediacy or the moment and being personal. They are connected to what the blogger is experiencing at the moment whereas I have a very narrow theme that is not in the moment nor personal. So as Tim Gunn would say "Carry on"

I know just what you mean. I added a blogroll the other day, and went through the feeds in Google Reader to select a few of the best. And I noticed just how many of my subscriptions are for dead blogs.

And yep. Things recur. It's not that I've run out of things to say about Mexico, but I am looking forward to blogging from London when I move back next year, just because everything will be so fresh.

Shirley...and the rest of you who have made some comment about continuing the blog, I wasn't writing this entry because I was thinking about stopping but more that this blog and reading blogs isn't something new anymore. When I've got something I want to say, I'll write. Still it is really nice to have encouragement from some of my readers.

It seems many of us have gone through the 'blah's of blogging lately. I know I have. It is the personal that makes blogs interesting, the peeks into the lives of people that you come to know and care about. I try and remember that when I feel I have nothing of import to say, sometimes it works sometimes I just have to ignore the blog for awhile. Schedules? No, that makes it work and then the joy does die. I do get joy from writing the blog, but it is a quiet, subtle kind of joy. I am happy when I have written something that feels real and I am happy when others comment and a conversation starts.

i think transforming the act of blogging into a joy instead of an obligation is a good thing. I hope you continue to blog with frequency, but understand that retirement is about doing what you want when you want to do it. There are enough tasks that must be done on schedule without creating more for yourself.

I love your Mexico blogs, but find my favorites are when you come to Houston and do areas of town or restaurants.